word | spirit | world | church
Language is a powerful thing. I think we underestimate its power regularly in our lives. Christians often scoff at this, because it sounds like magical thinking: manifesting things doesn’t work, however many copies The Secret has sold. Some charismatic circles go the opposite way and get hyper vigilant over it, scolding friends for ‘speaking something… Continue reading The Power of Language
There are two church leadership offices described in the Bible, the elder and the deacon. Deacons provide material (or operational) support to elders, and the only character qualification that’s distinctive between the two offices is that elders need to be able to ‘teach.’ That tells you something about the distinct thing that elders do. However,… Continue reading Pastor vs Elder vs Bishop
The Garden of Eden is presented to us like God is the Host at a dinner. We’re explicitly told of the food that’s laid out for Adam and Eve. In fact, what Adam does in his sin is, in essence, a rejection of hospitality. Rejecting hospitality is a big deal in the ancient world. To… Continue reading God the Host
Is the Church a 'Family?' An obvious yes, right? Except, where does it say that? You’re about to have a harder time than you expected. You might point to the use of genos in 1 Peter 2, though that’s usually translated ‘race’ and if we translated it family we would mean in the very broad sense that… Continue reading Stop Calling the Church a ‘Family’
There’s a sort of language in charismatic culture that love the word ‘freedom.’ That’s great, right? Who wouldn’t like our freedom? Who would want to give up our freedom (cue William Wallace memes)? Who would want to live in… unfreedom (the opposite of freedom is ‘bondage’ but people really get the wrong idea these days)?… Continue reading Freedom isn’t a thing
Throughout the Bible, people lead. Whether they are judges, kings, or prophets, they lead the people of God by showing them a direction in which to go. Leading is good. Leading is required, for without it we are like sheep gone astray, crying for a shepherd and prone to false ones. Churches need direction (even… Continue reading Lead vs Leader vs Leadership
The words that we use create the categories that we think in. Language is upstream of thought. Which sounds like a completely crazed thing to say, I imagine, though I’ve touched on the concept before when explaining why we can’t be ‘fixed’ and why ‘family’ is not a helpful term to use for the church,… Continue reading Language Matters
God is a speaking God. It’s how he acts, how he creates, how he reveals himself. Throughout the Bible, God reveals truth and creates by speaking truth. As Glen Scrivener says, God is an external processor, he is never without his Word. At the very start of all things, God spoke the Universe into being.… Continue reading A Charismatic Doctrine of Preaching
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